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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2013 1:01:11 GMT
BBC
QPR's transfer spending is gambling the future of the club
By Ben Smith BBC SportAs the clock ticked down to Thursday's transfer deadline it was not Manchester United, Chelsea or Liverpool that were on everyone's lips, but Queens Park Rangers. Some called it a trolley dash, others described it as financial roulette, but as the dust settled on another transfer window, it was impossible to dispute that Harry Redknapp's squad was better equipped to remain in the Premier League. But at what price? First came a striker. That was Loic Remy, the fluid French forward, who completed an ÂŁ8m transfer from Marseille. Then came the unsuccessful attempt to persuade Yann M'Vila to move to England. But it was the outlay on deadline day that raised more eyebrows and prompted new questions. Analysis Image of Robbie Savage Robbie Savage BBC Radio 5 live It is not Chris Samba's fault that they are paying him ÂŁ100,000 per week, he will be absolutely buzzing The deal for Christopher Samba, the towering central defender, broke the club's transfer record for the second time in a fortnight. The fee was ÂŁ12.5m, the contract worth more than ÂŁ20m over the four-and-a-half-year deal - an incredible commitment for a 28-year-old. QPR had met with Samba in the summer of 2012. A deal had been discussed, but the Loftus Road club would not meet his wage demands of ÂŁ100,000 per week. Six months on and the club's increasingly perilous position in the Premier League changed that position. "It is not Chris Samba's fault that they are paying him ÂŁ100,000 per week, he will be absolutely buzzing," former Blackburn midfielder Robbie Savage told BBC Sport. "But 100 grand a week? And they could drop into the Championship. It is madness. You look at what happened to Pompey and it was really, really sad. I know QPR are funded very well by Tony Fernandes. But it is a huge gamble." The additions of Jermaine Jenas and Andros Townsend with an hour left on deadline added to the wage bill, although an offer for West Brom striker Peter Odemwingie didn't come to fruition. QPR have been among the most active Premier League clubs in the market since the arrival of Fernandes in October 2011. Having preached the need for prudence and stability and insisted he would not bankroll the club, he has found the pressure of sustaining Premier League football forcing his hand. Under previous manager Mark Hughes, Ji-Sung Park, Robert Green, Junior Hoilett, Ryan Nelsen, Andrew Johnson all arrived to boost a squad and a wage bill already boasting Kieron Dyer, Joey Barton, Luke Young, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Anton Ferdinand, Nedum Onuoha, Djibril Cisse and Bobby Zamora. It is a recruitment pattern that is ambitious, extravagant but incredibly risky should Redknapp not be able to keep the club in the top division. "If the worst happens the financial position QPR will be in doesn't bear thinking about," former Bolton manager Owen Coyle told BBC Sport. "This feels like a club panicking." The figures spent on Remy and Samba are startling. The vast sums of money do not tally with a club battling to avoid the drop. QPR's total investment in both players across the term of their contract totals close to ÂŁ80m. Nobody at Loftus Road is pretending the model is self-sustainable in the short term, but having already committed vast sums to the wage bill it is felt it is better to roll the dice again in the hope of staying up and cashing in on the lucrative new three-year TV rights deal which kicks in next season. QPR signings under Fernandes January 2013 Tal Ben Haim - free Loic Remy - ÂŁ8m Christopher Samba - ÂŁ15m Jermain Jenas - free Andros Townsend - loan Summer 2012 Jose Bosingwa - free Julio Cesar - undisclosed Esteban Granero - undisclosed Sam Magri - free Stephane Mbia -undisclosed Fabio Da Silva - loan Park Ji-Sung - ÂŁ2m Junior Hoilett - ÂŁ4m Andrew Johnson - free Ryan Nelsen - free Robert Green - free Samba Diakite - undisclosed January 2012 Federico Macheda - loan Taye Taiwo - loan Nedum Onuoha - undisclosed Samba Diakite - loan Djibril Cisse - ÂŁ4m Bobby Zamora - undisclosed "The wages being paid at QPR are hard for the common man to understand," former Spurs and Luton manager David Pleat told BBC Sport. "Given the crowds that they get it seems a rather strange wage scale that they have. It is a salary scale that will get them in trouble. It is a difficult market and the weaker clubs do seem to suffer. They are facing relegation and have the fans pressing them to make signings. "You have got to have strong management at this time and make plans and say we want to sign X and stick to that. Otherwise it just becomes a spiral, a sense of panic." And yet if Redknapp can use these new players to steer the club away from danger will the reward justify the risk? Comparisons with Portsmouth and Leeds have been made but there are other examples at Fulham, Middlesbrough and Bolton as clubs who speculated, albeit not at this level, to accumulate. And QPR certainly do look an awful lot healthier than they did a few days ago. To a squad denounced for lack of quality, Redknapp has added players of international quality. Samba may be considered something of a plodder, but he is tall, aggressive and dominant â just what QPR's defence has lacked. "Harry has had four very good draws," Pleat added. "He has got them organised, played on the counter attack. He has got a win against Chelsea, a point against Manchester City, a point against Spurs - he has nothing fear now. "He is only a few points behind the clubs ahead of them but with the players he has brought in can help him bridge that gap." In QPR's Championship-winning season of 2010-11, the wages to turnover ratio was 183%. The current accounts make even more difficult reading. So much depends on Premier League football. Planning permission has already been secured for a new training ground at Warren Farm, locations are being considered for a new stadium. There is certainly a longer-term desire to move towards self-sustainability but for now QPR are pushing the financial boundaries and rolling the dice once more. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21288286?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed
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Post by londonranger on Feb 1, 2013 1:19:51 GMT
Oh stop writing your blather. Life is one collossal gamble. So. we go back to the recesses of the FA
and start over, or we could become a perrenial high finisher. Malaysia is choc full of lolly and will
buy us anyone we want.
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manta
Gordon Jago
Posts: 945
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Post by manta on Feb 1, 2013 4:56:14 GMT
I nearly fell off the back of my chair when I read we'd paid 12.5 million for Samba. I have said for years that money has ripped the soul out of the game and this is proof if any agents and players are greedy and self-serving as ever. If you know your footballing history you will know the man to blame for that is Graham Kelly.
Anyway, what about Samba's loyalty? I questioned at the time why he went to Russia, a very strange move when all things considered. And now he's back because it went tits up presumably. Oh I didn't see that coming...
Yes, Samba is a great player and leader but we're gambling the club's future here with these high fees and wage bills. If the owners pick up the bill for it then all fine and dandy. I just feel sad that players can earn so much while fans struggle to make ends meet and expected to pay extortionate ticket prices.
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2013 7:42:18 GMT
BBC - Club by Club Look 1 February 2013 Premier League: McNulty's January transfer window It was a tumultuous window of transfer wheeler-dealing, with car windows wound down, pens applied to dotted lines and the tectonic plates of the Premier League shifting once again. Here, BBC Sport's chief football writer Phil McNulty analyses the winners and losers as the top-flight's clubs brace themselves for the season run-in: ... QPR Key moves in: Loic Remy [undisclosed, believed to be ĂÂŁ8m, from Marseille], Tal Ben Haim [unattached], Christopher Samba [ĂÂŁ12.5m from Anzhi Makhachkala - QPR], Yun Suk-Young [undisclosed from Chunnam Dragons], Jermaine Jenas [undisclosed from Tottenham], Andros Townsend [loan from Tottenham] Key moves out: Djibril Cisse [loan to Al Gharafa], Frankie Sutherland [loan to Portsmouth], Michael Harriman [loan to Wycombe], Alejandro Faurlin [loan to Palermo], Michael Doughty [loan to St Johnstone], Anton Ferdinand [loan to Bursaspor], Jordan Gibbons [loan to Inverness CT], Rob Hulse [loan to Millwall], Djibril Cisse [loan to Al Gharafa] Phil McNulty's analysis: "Turbulence around west London as Harry Redknapp revamped his squad in a bid to beat the drop. The huge financial commitment, especially in the ĂÂŁ12.5m deal for Chris Samba, means relegation is now not an option. Loic Remy is required to score the goals and Samba to stop them. Suffered disappointment as deals for Peter Odemwingie and Peter Crouch failed to materialise." McNulty's verdict: "QPR owner Tony Fernandes has not held back from supporting Redknapp and the club's future may rest on the success of this month's investment..." www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21107468?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2013 7:45:12 GMT
David Conn/The Guardian
QPR's panic spree is the exception on saner transfer deadline day
Tony Fernandes's gamble to stay up is understandable but other clubs have taken a more strategic approach
The January transfer window has always been a sellers' market, so the behaviour of buying clubs is a barometer of their blood pressure, on a scale ranging from contented to chaotic. Those who are content with where they are in the league decline to buy in haste at inflated prices and stick with squads they are generally happy with until the saner market of the summer. There are itchily ambitious clubs or those who cannot help themselves ĂąâŹâ Roman Abramovich's Chelsea, paying Liverpool ĂÂŁ50m for Fernando Torres two years ago, is forever the classic example ĂąâŹâ but there were none in that impulsive bracket this time. In fact, considering this transfer window played out under the billowing prospect of ĂÂŁ5bn expected for the Premier League's three-year TV deals from next season, there has been a notable measure of calm and evidence of more strategic, professional recruitment than some trolley dashes of old. Newcastle signed five French players, but say they were not knee-jerking at the sudden glimpse of the relegation zone but responding to it responsibly by bringing forward the signing of players they had tracked for some time. So, in a climate now characterised by more careful, statistics-based assessment of players' abilities and the financial implications, all of football looked at Queens Park Rangers' dealings as a club edging towards red on the barometer. Given the probable ĂÂŁ60m a low-ranking Premier League club will be paid from television alone next season, compared with about ĂÂŁ2m (plus parachute payments) for clubs in the Championship, it is natural to strain sinews to stay up. Tony Fernandes, QPR owner for only 18 months, was praised by his manager, Harry Redknapp, for spending ĂÂŁ12.5m to buy out Christopher Samba's gilt-edged contract with Anzhi Makhachkala. That followed the ĂÂŁ8m spent on LoĂÂŻc Remy from Marseille, a deal worked on by the agent Willie McKay, a veteran of transfers from France to England, and so humble Loftus Road was the stand-out temple of extravagance in this transfer window. Samba's adviser, Walid Bouzid, said his client is not being paid the reported ĂÂŁ100,000 weekly wage at Loftus Road but that the money is certainly "Premier League sized" and does not include a clause to decrease it if, despite these signings, QPR are relegated. Spending ĂÂŁ20.5m in transfer fees and committing to many millions more in wages to two good players may be a rational effort by Fernandes to avoid greater losses if QPR are relegated but it is also a big-money January gamble. It is barely 18 months since a tough, muscular side managed by Neil Warnock convincingly won promotion to the Premier League and, having sacked Warnock and backed Mark Hughes to assemble a new collection last year, paying ĂÂŁ6.8m in agents' fees, Fernandes should wonder how it came to this. Around him are clubs steadily increasing the sophistication of their scouting and signing of players, in the context of financial fair play which is promoting responsible spending. In the relegation zone Reading are not panicking in similar fashion, perhaps accepting that going down can keep a club strong if the Premier League bonanza has not been blown. Southampton's radical action to stay up was the brutal replacement of the manager, Nigel Adkins, with Mauricio Pochettino, rather than spending millions on players. Newcastle acknowledge their French signings in January were partly a response to finding Alan Pardew's squad sliding down the league but argue that the strategy helmed by the managing director, Derek Llambias, with the chief scout, Graham Carr, has identified good value nevertheless. By contrast the decision by Aston Villa's owner, Randy Lerner, not to sign any players now might come to seem like paralysis rather than confidence that Villa's form will improve between now and May. At clubs in safer regions of the table the general lack of panic buying, or very much newsworthy activity, speaks of a satisfaction with squads likely to ensure survival at least in the golden league. Swansea's chairman, Huw Jenkins, had said they identified two or three potential targets to strengthen Michael Laudrup's squad now but, with terms and conditions not being ideal and the team surpassing expectations, they had the luxury of waiting until the summer. Towards the top Arsenal expressed customary forbearance, while Everton and Tottenham Hotspur both worked hard to secure quality signings who could help grasp the fourth Champions League place. Manchester City always said, in the first flushes of Sheikh Mansour's mountainous spending, that they had a strategy, supported by a director of football structure, and would not continue splashing out every window. This time City, who are confident they will pass Uefa's financial fair play assessment next year, bought no new players, only selling ĂąâŹâ Mario Balotelli for a satisfactory ĂÂŁ17m plus add-ons. Manchester United, top of the league, were never going to indulge too much in January but pocketed Wilfried Zaha for the future. At Chelsea Abramovich sated his oligarch's impulses by introducing Rafael BenĂÂtez as interim manager and, despite his team's imperfections, offered no repeat of the Torres drama. Liverpool, financial fair play devotees, now operate a line of decision-making via Michael Edwards, head of performance and analysis. Their ĂÂŁ12m signing of Daniel Sturridge and ĂÂŁ8.5m spent on Philippe Coutinho do not quite look like Michu-like steals for a new edition of Moneyball. But still the club's owners, Fenway Sports Group, getting to grips with soccer, must look back and wonder how, in their first weeks in charge, they allowed themselves to blow the Torres money by spending ĂÂŁ35m on Andy Carroll. Gradually ĂąâŹâ away from QPR ĂąâŹâ times are changing. www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/jan/31/qpr-panic-spree-transfer-deadline
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2013 7:50:53 GMT
Guardian - Paul Wilson
Two reasons clubs are more guarded with their money: Torres and Carroll
Transfer deadline day passes with little drama as clubs learn the lesson of 2011 when Chelsea and Liverpool splashed the cashThe most intriguing question of transfer deadline day was posed by a contributor to Talksport. Why is it that multimillion-pound, sharp-dressed, speed-of-light football is the only industry in the world still using fax machines? In terms of actual transfers the questions were no easier to answer, apart from the obvious one about what on earth a French club with a brief to gain worldwide attention could possibly see in 37-year-old David Beckham who, if he actually plays, will become the oldest outfield player registered in Ligue 1. Classy as it was of Beckham to announce his Paris Saint-Germain wages will be donated to a children's charity in the city, it did nothing to dispel the publicity stunt nature of the exercise. Great pictures, not that much of a transfer coup. For England to start exporting players again was something of a surprise, especially to France, when the traffic has all been in the opposite direction in recent months, though possibly not as much of a surprise as Blackburn supporters must have had when they heard Christopher Samba describe the Premier League as the best place in the world to play football.
It was not exactly startling to discover the defender was pining for a return to England after his lucrative move to Anzhi Makhachkala did not work out to his liking, though it is hard to fathom ĂąâŹâ apart from a four-and-a-half-year contract worth an estimated ĂÂŁ100,000 a week ĂąâŹâ why he thinks bottom-of-the-table Queens Park Rangers are a better bet to supply him with the Premier League career he now wishes he had not interrupted. It could be argued that Samba is a long-time fan of the Hoops and it was a bid from the former manager Mark Hughes last year that unsettled him at Ewood in the first place. But 12 months ago he was not being offered the sort of deal that Harry Redknapp and Tony Fernandes have just come up with.
At least when Redknapp described his new acquisition as a monster he intended it as a compliment, which is more than can be said for some of the names Sunderland supporters have been calling their new ĂÂŁ5m striker. Danny Graham was more or less destined to end up at the Stadium of Light from the moment he publicly disparaged the club while still a Watford player. As a Newcastle fan, he said, he would rather end up playing for Gateshead than Sunderland if he moved back to the north-east, but neither that nor the sound of Sunderland supporters booing the player when he appeared on Wearside with Swansea in midweek dissuaded Martin O'Neill from getting his man. This could at least be a last-day transfer story with legs.
With the bigger clubs doing their shopping early in the window ĂąâŹâ deals for Demba Ba, Daniel Sturridge and Wilfried Zaha were conducted with little fuss and, though Mario Balotelli's exit dragged on, there seemed to be a sad inevitability about the eventual parting ĂąâŹâ the deadline day was decidedly short on drama. The more excitable media outlets always seem to think there is going to be a repeat of the dizzying last day of January 2011, when Fernando Torres went south for ĂÂŁ50m and Liverpool shoved the proceeds towards Andy Carroll with all the rash optimism of a tourist at the roulette table, though it was clear even at the time that that would be the exception rather than the rule. Two years on it is even clearer that major clubs are going to be more guarded with their money in winter. There are two main reasons for that. One is called Torres and the other Carroll. In the absence of great big, jaw-dropping deals there was just a list of tiny surprises. Most people had completely forgotten Heurelho Gomes was still on Spurs' books, prior to his loan move to Hoffenheim. Ditto all the other White Hart Lane corpses, sorry careers, Redknapp spent his evening trying to revive. Ditto Rory Delap, whom many outside the Potteries might have assumed had left Stoke some time ago. In other unstunning news the Barnsley right-back turned his back on Wigan in favour of a move to Everton and Norwich decided Luciano Becchio might be a Premier League striker after all. Jack Butland choosing Stoke over Chelsea and Manchester City looked a bit of a story at first but the small print knocked it down. The goalkeeper is 19, Birmingham are holding a firesale, he is staying with his present club until the end of the season and he reasoned, perfectly reasonably, that he would not be going straight into the team at Stamford Bridge or the Etihad. Common sense is going to be the death of deadline-day drama. www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/jan/31/transfer-deadline-day
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2013 7:52:31 GMT
TELEGRAPH
Transfer window closes in shambles as West Brom block Peter Odemwingie's move to Queens Park Rangers The transfer window closed in farcical circumstances on Thursday night when Peter Odemwingie, the West Bromwich Albion forward, arrived to join Queens Park Rangers only for the deal to collapse as he waited outside Loftus Road.By Jeremy Wilson 12:40AM GMT 01 Feb 2013 Comments8 Comments With QPR earlier breaking their transfer record for the second time in three weeks to complete the ĂÂŁ12.5 million signing of Christopher Samba, Odemwingie arrived in west London clearly expecting to be Harry RedknappĂąâŹâąs second major deal of the day. The 31-year-old had even given an interview from his car to a Sky Sports News reporter in which he talked about the expected challenge ahead and even appeared to use the word ĂąâŹĆweĂąâŹÂ as he referred to QPR. West Brom were furious and quickly issued a statement in which they stressed Odemwingie did not have permission to speak to another club. QPR then responded by insisting Odemwingie had not been granted entry to Loftus Road, a situation that literally left the Nigeria striker out in the cold. It is understood that the two clubs had provisionally agreed a ĂÂŁ3.5 million fee but negotiations had then stalled on West BromĂąâŹâąs desire to recruit Junior Hoilett on loan and have QPR continue to pay a significant proportion of his wages. The West Brom statement read: ĂąâŹĆAlbion have moved to clarify developments regarding Peter Odemwingie after the striker was filmed a short while ago arriving at Loftus Road. The club can confirm they have held further discussions with QPR today but those talks have so far proven fruitless and no agreement has been reached. Albion would also like to make clear that Peter has not been given permission to speak to QPR about a potential move.ĂąâŹÂ By this time Odemwingie had already outlined his excitement about the prospect of joining QPR. ĂąâŹĆI think every football fan is interested to see if we [QPR] are going to make it or not,ĂąâŹÂ he said. ĂąâŹĆI am very optimistic about it. IĂąâŹâąm happy with the trust Harry Redknapp has given me. Of course I believe. The last three results have shown there is a chance. ĂąâŹĆI donĂąâŹâąt think the owners will bring in so many quality players and spend so much money if they didnĂąâŹâąt believe it can happen. IĂąâŹâąm very optimistic that I will join QPR, itĂąâŹâąs a new chapter in my life. ItĂąâŹâąs not 100 per cent yet, itĂąâŹâąs not sorted yet but I hope they will be happy with what they get.ĂąâŹÂ Odemwingie was also quoted as saying that he had been told by Dan Ashworth, West BromĂąâŹâąs technical director, that he could leave if a ĂÂŁ3.5ĂąâŹâ°million fee was met. ĂąâŹĆI am disappointed this is all happening,ĂąâŹÂ he reportedly said. ĂąâŹĆI met with Dan Ashworth this morning and we shook hands that I could leave with his blessing if the ĂÂŁ3.5 million fee was met. Now, as I am on my way, I find that there are more complications. It is frustrating to say the least.ĂąâŹÂ Redknapp, who did also complete deals for Tottenham midfielders Andros Townsend and Jermaine Jenas yesterday, said that there had been a misunderstanding over Odemwingie. ĂąâŹĆI think he probably felt the deal would be agreed between the clubs,ĂąâŹÂ said Redknapp. ĂąâŹĆIt hadnĂąâŹâąt and it was all a bit of a mix-up really. I felt sorry for the lad. ItĂąâŹâąs difficult ĂąâŹâ it wasnĂąâŹâąt any of our doing. I think maybe he was advised he should turn up here, that the club had made an offer and the offer had been accepted. The wires got crossed somewhere. ItĂąâŹâąs too late now.ĂąâŹÂ Jenas arrived at Loftus Road last night and did complete his move from Tottenham on an 18-month deal, while Townsend will remain at QPR until the end of the season. QPR had earlier competed SambaĂąâŹâąs signing from Anzhi Makhachkala to add to previous deals this month for Loic Remy, Tal Ben Haim and Yun Suk-young. Samba signed a contract until 2017 worth an initial ĂÂŁ75,000 a week, although it is believed to contain a substantial relegation clause. ĂąâŹĆThis is an unbelievable signing,ĂąâŹÂ said Redknapp. ĂąâŹĆChris is just what we need ĂąâŹâ heĂąâŹâąs a monster.ĂąâŹÂ QPR also failed yesterday with a third and final bid of ĂÂŁ5 million for Stoke CityĂąâŹâąs Peter Crouch. www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/queens-park-rangers/9841220/Transfer-window-closes-in-shambles-as-West-Brom-block-Peter-Odemwingies-move-to-Queens-Park-Rangers.html
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2013 7:53:44 GMT
TELEGRAPH
Harry Redknapp's motor at the epicentre of a fevered crescendo on transfer deadline day It is not as easy as you might think, getting signed up on transfer deadline day. Take Andros Townsend. Early in the morning, the young Tottenham winger turned up at a private hospital in Osterley, west London.Jim White He was there for a medical, something he assumed was mere formality ahead of joining Queens Park Rangers. But, as he gave his name to the receptionist, he received bad news. The move was off. Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy was making it a condition of any transfer that David Bentley and Jermaine Jenas also be signed. At that time QPR werenĂąâŹâąt interested in his three-for-one deal. So Townsend left the building, his ambition thwarted and headed off elsewhere. Perhaps to Brentford. It makes you wonder if this is what happens as the transfer season comes to its conclusion: young players drive round the country turning up unannounced for medicals in the hope of getting a new contract. But by the evening, the deal was back on. Or at least, the Jenas part of it. Not that it was easy even for a player of his experience. When he pitched up at Loftus Road to discuss terms, he couldnĂąâŹâąt get into the place. Every door he tried, was locked. As a metaphor for his career, it could not have been bettered. If you want to know what is happening on transfer deadline day, there is only one place to be: Queens Park Rangers. With Harry Redknapp in charge, the club are guaranteed to be the very epicentre of activity on deadline day. Indeed, almost as Townsend was being turned away from his medical, Redknapp was arriving at the clubĂąâŹâąs training ground, conducting an interview through the window of his Range Rover with Sky Sports News. ĂąâŹĆI donĂąâŹâąt know why everyone thinks IĂąâŹâąm always involved,ĂąâŹÂ he said, even as he gave the cameras the defining image of any deadline day. As we all know about Redknapp: the window is never fully closed until he shuts the window on his motor. For Aiden Magee, the Sky Sports News reporter, that was the interview he wanted. He and his cameraman had arrived at Harlington before dawn. Not because they thought Redknapp might turn up then, but just to be there. Their first live report had been for the 6am news bulletin, when all that could be seen in the pitch darkness was the locked gates of the training ground picked out by the cameraĂąâŹâąs arclight. This is what the deadline day has become for Sky: a fevered crescendo of manufactured drama, Cohorts of reporters address us from outside every training facility, passing on information they have had gleaned five minutes before from a club press officer. ĂąâŹĆWe understand that Christopher Samba has passed his medical and is about to sign for the club,ĂąâŹÂ he revealed. By the time the managerĂąâŹâąs motor had swished past, Mark, a lifelong QPR fan, had turned up to see what was going on. ĂąâŹĆWhatĂąâŹâąs going on?ĂąâŹÂ he asked. None of us were entirely sure. Mark had heard on the radio that there were rumours that David BentleyĂąâŹâąs Range Rover had been spotted pulling into the Osterley medical facility. No one could confirm that. What we could confirm about a Bentley was that Mark was almost run over by one being driven at warp-factor speed by Armand TraorĂ©. Watching the QPR squad arrive was to engage in a where-are-they-now contest. There was Luke Young in a Bentley, Andy Johnson in a Range Rover, Jose Bosingwa in a Porsche. Even as Samba was signing a deal worth ĂÂŁ23.4ĂąâŹâ°million over 4ĂÂœ years, the club were paying the leftover remnants of the last couple of transfer windows hundreds of thousands of pounds to remain idle. Once training was over, Redknapp headed to Loftus Road. ĂąâŹĆTriffic player,ĂąâŹÂ he said of Samba through his window. Anyone else coming? We all asked him. ĂąâŹĆNah, donĂąâŹâąt think so.ĂąâŹÂ Not even Peter Crouch? ĂąâŹĆNah, unlikely,ĂąâŹÂ he said, just as his phone rang. ĂąâŹĆSorry fellas, better get that. Never know who it might be.ĂąâŹÂ Convinced his denial meant a very tall man was about to be spotted in the ShepherdĂąâŹâąs Bush area, everyone piled into their cars and followed him to the stadium. There we joined another three camera crews, all contributing to the endless urgent waffle of deadline day. Meanwhile, a man in a white van leaned, Harry-like, through his window and asked if anyone had been signed. ĂąâŹĆChristopher Samba,ĂąâŹÂ several of us said, authoritatively. He looked at the number of reporters and cameras now filling the pavement. ĂąâŹĆIs that it?ĂąâŹÂ he said. ĂąâŹĆYou all here just for him?ĂąâŹÂ It appeared we were. www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/queens-park-rangers/9840920/Harry-Redknapps-motor-at-the-epicentre-of-a-fevered-crescendo-on-transfer-deadline-day.html
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Post by RoryTheRanger on Feb 1, 2013 8:48:26 GMT
I nearly fell off the back of my chair when I read we'd paid 12.5 million for Samba. I have said for years that money has ripped the soul out of the game and this is proof if any agents and players are greedy and self-serving as ever. If you know your footballing history you will know the man to blame for that is Graham Kelly. Anyway, what about Samba's loyalty? I questioned at the time why he went to Russia, a very strange move when all things considered. And now he's back because it went tits up presumably. Oh I didn't see that coming... Yes, Samba is a great player and leader but we're gambling the club's future here with these high fees and wage bills. If the owners pick up the bill for it then all fine and dandy. I just feel sad that players can earn so much while fans struggle to make ends meet and expected to pay extortionate ticket prices. He's on less than Barton was by the way....... Oh and Samba only went to Anzhi because Blackburn refused to sell to us. Samba wanted to sign for us but Blackburn wouldn't sell to another club involved in the relegation battle. Anzhi were the only other club that met Blackburn's asking price.
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2013 8:49:58 GMT
The suggestion has been made that we're paying him more than Hughes was prepared to...
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Post by gibraltar on Feb 1, 2013 9:34:34 GMT
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Post by Roller on Feb 1, 2013 13:15:05 GMT
Would not have buying Samba been an even greater gamble with the club's future?
Doing nothing to replace Nelsen would have made relegation a virtual certainty. We may have been able to get another player for less, but had we had a poll I bet Samba would have been out top choice.
Should we go down (and we won't) he will undoubtedly be sold.
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 1, 2013 13:43:21 GMT
Bargain Buys Paul Warburton/Fulham Chronicle QPR boss reveals wage secrets behind Spurs deal By Paul Warburton Feb 1 2013 QPR reckon they got fabulous cut-price deals after signing Jermaine Jenas and Andros Townsend from Tottenham. Boss Harry Redknapp raided his old club to bring the pair to west London hours before the transfer deadline closed last night and laughed at the notion he was paying them ÂŁ100,000 wages combined. According to Harry, itâs closer to ÂŁ25,000-a-week put together, and one of them believed to be on-loan Townsend, is closer to ÂŁ3k a week. The manager added: âQPR arenât paying them that much. We did a good deal on their wages â and nothing like the ÂŁ100,000 I read about this morning.â Both will boost the midfield after Ali Faurlin left on loan to Palermo for the rest of the season, but only Jenas (pic) is expected ton feature alongside new ÂŁ12m signing when Hoops take on Norwich at Loftus Road lunchtime fixture tomorrow. www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/london-qpr/2013/02/01/qpr-boss-reveals-wage-secrets-behind-spurs-deal-82029-32726740/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
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Post by saphilip on Feb 1, 2013 14:09:28 GMT
Personally I felt the die was cast when Hughes hired all these expensive flops during 2 transfer windows. As a result of those purchases I felt that the club had to stay up at all costs becasue relegation would have meant a financial meltdown.
So yes, it is a huge gamble - and not an ideal one - but let's face it; the club has to fill in the gap left by Nelson and lack of creativity and a decent goalscorer has meant that Harry had to recruit other players to fill that gap as well.
We saw what happened last weekend - the solution is not the bench or the reserve team. So I don't think the club had no alternative. To sit back and do nothing would have been guaranteed relegation.
This at least gives us a fighting chance but I agree with most sentiments; if QPR does go down, Pompey will have nothing on us - that's for sure.
That we got to this situation in the first place is the biggest tragedy of all.
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Post by saphilip on Feb 1, 2013 14:10:12 GMT
I should add - at least we have managed to offload some of these flops on loan deals.
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Post by kerrins on Feb 1, 2013 14:23:50 GMT
This reminds me....must not forget my Friday trip to the Casino
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ingham
Dave Sexton
Posts: 1,896
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Post by ingham on Feb 1, 2013 17:19:01 GMT
No wonder there is confusion.
On the one hand, we are repeatedly told that wealthy people are 'bankrolling' the Club. With the implication that the Club is spending someone else's money at no cost to itself.
On the other hand, dire warnings everywhere.
Why? If the rich 'investors' are losing their money, that's no skin off the Club's nose.
It is only a problem if these rich 'investors' aren't spending their money at all.
But if they aren't, and they're simply squandering the next two or three years of QPR's Premiership revenue on two or three players, then the dire warnings are scarcely serious enough.
And all the stuff about 'sustainability' at some unspecified time in the future is meaningless.
On what basis would they spend less? If this is what a bottom-of-the-table side costs, do they expect the agents and players and managers to accept a fraction of what they're getting now once they've registered a significant improvement?
Why on earth would they need to spend colossal sums now in order to spend far less in the years to come? How can they replace players of this 'quality' with players good enough and consistent enough to 'sustain' long term Premiership football for less than they're squandering on this overpaid rag-bag of relegation strugglers?
If rich 'investors' really are funding the Club, relegation is not a problem. There may be very little talent, but they can simply advance more money to win promotion again.
It only represents a threat if the Club sustains losses, and that is ONLY possible if the money Fernandes and his mates are spending is the Club's.
And the real question remains unanswered. If this is a billionaire's money, why aren't we spending MORE? Why spend THIS much on a job lot of odds and sods and remnants?
Where is the REAL quality? The top class players, and the top class managers? If 'Arry IS top class, what is he doing here? If he isn't, why are we giving him so much to spend?
Panic is not a bad way of putting it. The loss of ÂŁ40 million a year for the next year or two years or three years is a nightmarish prospect if these people are simply taking QPR for everything it has got.
We can't say QPR is building itself quietly into a force. We can't say it is spending its way to the top either.
And at this level of spending, will mid-table be enough? At a Club like Spurs or Villa, languishing at a lower level but with very big historic levels of support, a spending spree might be considered necessary until the crowds came back and they could challenge for the Champions League.
But we can't do that. Even if there was a surge, it would be very difficult to sustain it for long without a major transformation of the Club. If that is what is intended, why spend themselves into a corner on no-hopers when they could squander Mittal's money instead of QPR's and go for the title.
Because this level of expenditure looks far more small Club - albeit small Club in the Premiership - than billionaire. His level would be ÂŁ1 billion. Ours would be maybe ÂŁ100 milliion over a few seasons.
If we've spent the next few years' money already - with nothing to show for it, no big stadium, no vast crowds, no quality players, a manager who has never won anything big - that begs the question, what happens after two or three years.
A bigger ground? But surely not just by spending all the Club's money. That would require vast expenditure from outside, to transform the Club. And no Club has ever done that in our lifetime. Not in this tight competitive environment.
I do expect 'Arry to win. And I do expect him to take us up the table out of the relegation zone.
He has no choice now. Anything else would be a joke.
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manta
Gordon Jago
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Post by manta on Feb 1, 2013 17:53:28 GMT
He's on less than Barton was by the way....... Oh and Samba only went to Anzhi because Blackburn refused to sell to us. Samba wanted to sign for us but Blackburn wouldn't sell to another club involved in the relegation battle. Anzhi were the only other club that met Blackburn's asking price.[/quote] Samba should have stayed and helped Blackburn, his loyalty was to them.
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Dave Sexton
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Post by ingham on Feb 2, 2013 14:00:27 GMT
Big spending QPR snapping up the ÂŁ3,000 a week bargains. And selling off the expensive blokes before we have to pay all that big money.
It isn't that I don't believe what they say. I'm never really sure what these figures actually refer to.
Is the ÂŁ12 million the total cost of the contract? A cash payment? All the instalments for a season, four seasons? The fee? The fee plus all the wages? The fee plus one year's wages?
And if we sell Samba, when? Just when he's starting to make an impact? Just when the first instalment is due? After a year in the reserves - or out injured - to ensure we lose no more than ÂŁ12 million?
I can believe 'Arry is playing it all down. But he would, wouldn't he? If his reported annual salary is ÂŁ4.5 million (or is that just another bit of wishful thinking by the press or the Club's PR department), and we struggle to survive, doing so with the most expensive squad in the relegation zone will hardly enhance his prestige.
Or give him a chance at running a big Club.
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 2, 2013 22:29:01 GMT
The Observer/Daniel Taylor
QPR's big transfer window gamble strays close to line of recklessness|
It is a scattergun approach that may spark a great escape if Harry Redknapp can make the most of his restorative powers but if QPR go down, who clears up the mess then? Tony Fernandes, the QPR chairman, increasingly comes across as the gambler trying to cover his losses with wild bets. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images Nobody with a Sky Sports microphone bothers with Portsmouth any more on transfer deadline day. There was a time, not so long ago, when they would be outside Fratton Park from daybreak to last thing at night. Harry Redknapp would wind down his car window to let us know who was next to arrive. He would thank his chairman and talk about how terrific it was to sign another player for a big fee and fat contract. Then he would drive away with a little wave to the crowd who had gathered expectantly. No point going down there now, though. The gates are locked. The curtains tremble. Portsmouth won the FA Cup under Redknapp and were bucket-collection skint within six weeks of handing it back. These days you will find them grubbing around for points towards the bottom of League One, just grateful still to be going. Pompey are the rusty old Fiat that has failed its MOT and been left out over winter. There's an engine in there somewhere, but it sounds terrible. All of which may make this an appropriate moment, perhaps, to ask what measures Queens Park Rangers have in place to avoid the possibility of their own meltdown if they drop out of the Premier League this season. Is there even the basis of a fully integrated plan? Or, looking at their business over the last couple of weeks, is this the point when they, too, appear to be basing their entire financial strategy on the theory of chaos? They are not alone, to give them their due, when it comes to the frenzy of the transfer window and what it tells us about the clubs who prefer to do their business the sensible way and those who can be found on the trolley dash. Yet QPR stand out for a number of reasons when their chairman, Tony Fernandes, increasingly comes across as the gambler desperately trying to cover his losses with a series of wild bets. Redknapp, the man who once walked out of a television interview after he was described as a "wheeler-dealer", has brought in half a dozen players and tried for goodness knows how many others. For the club's sake, you just hope they know what they are doing. There is, after all, a point when spending becomes reckless and QPR are surely straying close to the line when, even ignoring for one moment the LoĂŻc RĂ©my deal, they have just splurged ÂŁ12.5m on a 28-year-old centre-half â Chris Samba â and agreed to pay him somewhere around ÂŁ20m in wages over the next four and a half years. It is true, granted, that someone with Samba's competitive courage could be an important player for a club that have won two league fixtures all season and that, if the gamble comes off and there is a dramatic late feat of escapology, they will no doubt consider he was worth every penny. But ÂŁ12.5m? Simon Jordan may be a tiresome old rent-a-quote sometimes but when the former Crystal Palace chairman described it as "financial suicide" it was almost reassuring to find someone within the sport who was not willing to sugarcoat the truth. Niall Quinn was also in Sky's studios alongside Jordan on deadline night. Financial suicide? "It's heading that way," the former Sunderland chairman agreed. Jordan talked about a club with "lunatics running the asylum", where the culture was to sign the cheque and think of the consequences later, and it all boiled down to one thing: where does it leave QPR if they go down? On Friday, at Redknapp's press conference, he was asked that very question and delivered a masterclass in evasion. Will they be financially stable? "I don't know," he replied. "It's the chairman's decisions." It's big money, though, Harry ⊠"That's up to the chairman and the shareholders. That's their decision to spend the money." Nobody returned to the subject or pointed out that, a few days before the transfer window opened, Redknapp had talked about wanting to change the spending culture of the club. It was his job, he had said, to make sure the owners no longer had "their pants taken down". He was sick and tired of agents wanting a quick payday, and he made it clear that a club the size of QPR had to stop being such an easy touch. "You shouldn't be paying massive wages when you've got a stadium that holds 18,000 people." Quite. It sounded very noble at the time and still does, in fact. It can also look a bit silly, however, when the club then breaks their transfer record twice in the space of two weeks, first for RĂ©my and then Samba, and agrees to pay them more than Gareth Bale earns at Tottenham and more than everyone bar Theo Walcott takes home at Arsenal. There will be QPR supporters, of course, who argue that it is worth the gamble. Far better, they may say, that Fernandes is throwing money at the problem rather than the shift in policy that his Aston Villa counterpart, Randy Lerner, has brought in. Yet there is a middle ground otherwise known as common sense. Certainly it's a bewildering set of events when, in 18 months, a club can make 31 signings. In three transfer windows QPR have now signed seven new strikers, seven centre-halves, four goalkeepers, eight midfielders, a winger, two left-backs and two right‑backs. They now have such a bloated squad â 42 players if we are counting the 10 they have out on loan â that it has been impossible for them to shoehorn everyone into the revised 25-man squad they submitted to the Premier League on Friday. Luke Young, one of football's forgotten men, has been left out. Andy Johnson, another former England international, is due back from injury next month â but no need to rush now. Radek Cerny has not played for 13 months. That won't be changing between now and May. Redknapp brought in Samba, Andros Townsend and Jermaine Jenas to go with RĂ©my, Tal Ben Haim and Yun Suk-yung but missed out on Peter Crouch and Peter Odemwingie. He had no joy with an ambitious inquiry for Scott Parker and, most perplexingly, he also tried to sign David Bentley, the player he marginalised at Tottenham to the point he ended up at Rostov in Russia. They, of course, are just the deals we know about. It is a scattergun approach that may yet form the backdrop to one of the great escapes if Redknapp can make the most of his restorative powers. At the same time, QPR are still bottom of the league, with 17 points from 25 games, and it does makes you wonder whether there is any kind of joined-up thinking behind the scenes and what might happen a little further down the line bearing in mind Fernandes has already indicated he will relinquish his position if they go down. Who clears up the mess then? Because it would be a mess. Maybe not as extreme as Portsmouth but a mess, all the same. www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/feb/02/qpr-gamble-harry-redknapp
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Post by eusebio13 on Feb 3, 2013 1:18:22 GMT
Very interesting read that won't fit the agenda of a lot of lazy journalism TELEGRAPH - JASON BURT
Queens Park Rangers chairman Tony Fernandes says Premier League club 'will not become a Portsmouth'
Tony Fernandes, the chairman of Queens Park Rangers, has strongly defended the clubâs spending in the January transfer window and denied he has acted ârecklesslyâ insisting there is a âsensibleâ business plan in place.By Jason Burt, Football Correspondent11:59PM GMT 02 Feb 2013 The Malaysian entrepreneur said that if QPR were relegated from the Premier League it would not lead to a financial meltdown. âIâm an accountant, I run businesses. We are sensible with what we are doing,â Fernandes said, claiming that the clubâs wage bill had actually been reduced in January, because of the number of players who had gone out on loan, and despite the arrival of high-earners Christopher Samba, for ÂŁ12.5 million, and LoĂŻc RĂ©my for ÂŁ7 million. On the pair, Fernandes denied that Samba was being paid as much as ÂŁ100,000-a-week and insisted that the defender would stay at the club should they be relegated â and did have a clause in his contract reducing his salary. RĂ©my, however, would be sold. âIf you analyse it we havenât spent that much money on transfers and as for our wage bill, when I look at other clubs when they put their results out then ours is not too bad and there is now value in the squad,â Fernandes said. âI donât think there is any recklessness there.â Nevertheless he conceded that owning a football club was a âgambleâ. âNo one can guarantee anything in football,â he added. âBut you try to minimise the risk as much as possible and thatâs where the expertise of the management comes in and they say 'this is what we need to surviveâ and you look at it and if it makes sense then the board and myself support it. âAnyone who says we are gambling then, of course, we are.â It is the degree of that gamble that matters and Fernandes has been irked by the criticism he has faced â that he is playing fast and loose with the clubâs future and its finances, that relegation from the Premier League could lead to a Portsmouth-style administration. âPeople have not seen the balance sheet, have not seen the P and L [profit and loss account], have not seen the five-year plan,â Fernandes argued. âThere are no debts like at other clubs. Weâve put in a lot of money and itâs no different from setting up a car business or an airline. âBut it takes time. QPR were an underinvested club. Simple as that. Iâm not in it for one year, Iâm investing for the future. Iâm investing to build a stadium, to build a training academy, to build a proper business. âOf course when you buy a small club you are going to incur some losses at the beginning.â That was well understood? âYes, we didnât want to be at the bottom of the division and, yes, if we go down it will hurt. But we are businessmen who are prepared for all eventualities. âWe, QPR, have to move out of the small club syndrome and for constant security have to build a bigger stadium, a better infrastructure. So far it hasnât worked but we wonât be the first club for whom everything hasnât gone exactly to plan. âWe inherited a squad where every single player who has left is no longer playing in the Premier League, doesnât that say something? We have replaced and replenished the squad at a very low cost because most of them were free transfers. This is the first window that we have spent big money [last January Bobby Zamora was bought for ÂŁ4.5 million and Djibril CissĂ© for ÂŁ4 million]. One is Chris Samba who weâve wanted for three transfer windows. It has been our problem from day one â a centre-back. Chris is a good guy, heâs 28 and whether we go up or down he will be with us. We are building a team around him. âWe paid ÂŁ12 million for Samba but West Ham paid close to that for Matt Jarvis [ÂŁ10.75 million] and Sunderland did for Adam Johnson [ÂŁ10 million]. I think every club has an ÂŁ8-9 million player, In RĂ©myâs case we paid ÂŁ7 million for a very good striker who is 24 and has a resell value. If you go on [the website] transfermarket.com we have one of the best valued squads but our squad has not performed well. âWeâve also let eight players go on loan [in January] which has taken a massive chunk off the wage bill. And there may be one or two more going in the Russian transfer window and the American transfer window. Itâs gone down. I can categorically state that not a single player is on ÂŁ100,000-a-week. The wage we are paying LoĂŻc RĂ©my is the wage that Newcastle were offering him. I just persuaded him that our project and London was a better project than Newcastleâs. âWe paid what Newcastle were offering. I spent a lot of time and effort and he saw something in this project that he wanted to take a risk. If it doesnât work then we can find him somewhere else. âItâs not always about money. QPR are the bottom club and you donât come to the bottom club for the dollar sign. And Iâm not going to get players for the dollar signs.â If QPR are relegated Fernandes and his backers â including the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal â will stay, he insisted. Fernandes also clarified what he meant when he said he might walk away if it was felt he was not doing a good job. âI have to take the responsibility,â he said. âBut leaving the club didnât mean I was going to take my investment out â it just meant someone else might be better suited to be chairman.â www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/queens-park-rangers/9844172/Queens-Park-Rangers-chairman-Tony-Fernandes-says-Premier-League-club-will-not-become-a-Portsmouth.html
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Post by pommyhoop on Feb 3, 2013 1:45:20 GMT
Good read.Cheered me up. A little..
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Post by hotanalyst on Feb 3, 2013 7:26:28 GMT
Yet more transfer window madness in evidence once again! Same old mistakes being repeated! I recall Fernandes talking about the need for self sustainability upon buying his majority stake in the club. Following our latest transfer window activity the club's wage bill is now ÂŁ75 million a year which is more than 100% of annual turnover. Plus an additional net ÂŁ22 million spent in transfer fees. So much for Tony's fine words about self sustainability. Rather than worry about dropping to the Championship, maybe we should worry about going into administration! The debt keeps ratcheting up, the wage bill is now unsustainable and one has to wonder about the long-term commitment of the owners and their willingness to sink tens of millions more into the club if we suffer relegation. As for player acquisition, will our owners ever learn from their past mistakes? All I see is more dubious quality brought in at the last minute on massively inflated wages. And a manager already distancing himself from it with comments like "how am I responsible for mortgaging QPR" and "it was not me saying go out and buy Samba". Quite frankly, a club with only 18,000 capacity should not be paying its players ÂŁ100,000 a week. The word shambles comes to mind.
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 3, 2013 8:05:50 GMT
Thanks Eusebio13 (I just split up the paragraphs to make it easier to read, because it's important)
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 3, 2013 8:11:30 GMT
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Post by eusebio13 on Feb 3, 2013 8:29:31 GMT
Thanks Eusebio13 (I just split up the paragraphs to make it easier to read, because it's important) Thanks Mac some very direct quotes in there that go to the heart of clubs future. âThere are no debts like at other clubs. Weâve put in a lot of money and itâs no different from setting up a car business or an airline."He acknowledges that our current size doesnt support our spending by saying "Iâm not in it for one year, Iâm investing for the future. Iâm investing to build a stadium, to build a training academy, to build a proper business.""The wage we are paying LoĂŻc RĂ©my is the wage that Newcastle were offering him."âWe paid what Newcastle were offering." on Remy If QPR are relegated Fernandes and his backers â including the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal â will stay, he insistedFernandes also clarified what he meant when he said he might walk away if it was felt he was not doing a good job. âI have to take the responsibility,â he said. âBut leaving the club didnât mean I was going to take my investment out â it just meant someone else might be better suited to be chairman.âNow I don't see anything equivocal about those statements so he's either a liar or he's committed for the long haul .
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Post by cpr on Feb 3, 2013 9:07:06 GMT
That interview in the Telegraph backs up everything he's said all along. Yet it still seems that lazy journalists and idiots in football think they know more about our finances and dig us out.
I have no concerns, this didn't appease me, it merely confirmed what I already believed I knew.
I may not want the club his projections forecast but what the hell. Gotta go with the flow eh! ;D
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 3, 2013 9:50:53 GMT
EXPRESS FANS SWEAT ON ANSWER TO HARRYâ REDKNAPPS ÂŁ100M QUESTION Harry Redknapp did some deals on deadline day Sunday February 3,2013 Have your say(0) THE windows are shut. QPR can make no more casino gambles in the transfer market and Harry Redknapp can drive past the TV cameras without leaning out of his car to chatter about footballers he covets for his dream team. Now the doors open at Loftus Road to 100 days of fear and wonder for the loyal fans of Queens Park Rangers. The fear is obvious. It is the danger that their homely club has spent many millions of pounds in reckless fashion â over-stretching on record transfer signings and over-loading their wage bill in a way that will bring ruin if the club is relegated. The wonder is there, too. Will this prove an inspired gamble on tough and talented players like Christopher Samba and Loic Remy and keep the vast riches of the Premier League flowing in? Could it be the turning point that allows a hugely popular manager in Redknapp to guide Rangers towards the heady ambition of playing in the Champions League? There are 100 days and 13 matches for QPR to haul themselves off the bottom of the table to immediate safety â and the truth is that nobody can know how this story will pan out. Some Rangers fans will be full of optimism. It is the way of many football supporters; to walk into their ground with hope in their hearts and not worry about tomorrow. Many others will be quivering; they will see the spectre of what happened to Portsmouth and Leeds in recent times. It is less than nine years ago that QPR fans trudged the streets of west London collecting money in buckets to help pay playersâ wages when the club was deep in financial crisis. Supporters haunted by those memories might have preferred a different strategy to that being pursued by Rangersâ owner Tony Fernandes â a strategy of patient, gradual building that has been the policy of rival clubs like Stoke, Everton, West Brom, Spurs and Swansea, to name but five. Itâs too late for that. The casino plunge has been taken. Redknapp has worked both ways before. He was manager at Portsmouth when a splurge of cash bought triumph and glory in the 2008 FA Cup Final. Not long afterwards the bubble burst and the club, to its eternal shame, couldnât even pay debts owed to the St John Ambulance and the local boy scouts. He was then manager at Spurs where financial planning was conducted on a measured, long-term basis, and his managerial skill fashioned a thrilling team that soared into the Champions League. How does Redknapp feel at being involved in another mighty gamble? If his views appear curiously inconsistent, he is hardly alone in the world of football in changing his mind with each passing gust of wind. His sober comment in December was: âI donât want to spend the ownerâs money really. Weâve got a stadium that holds 18,000 people and shouldnât be paying big wages.â Last week he heralded the âfantasticâ signing of giant defender Samba for a club record ÂŁ12.5million fee and reported ÂŁ100,000-a-week wages. He was just as pleased when striker Remy came in a colossal deal. Yes, this is the ownerâs doing. It is the ownerâs money, the ownerâs gamble. But Redknapp hardly discouraged it. Listen to his own words about the acquisition of Samba: âThe simple facts were the chairman said to me a couple of weeks ago, âIf you had a choice of a centre-half to replace Ryan Nelsen, who would you like?â âI gave him a couple of central defenders â Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, John Terry, Chris Samba â that was as far as it went.â Was this a realistic wish-list for a club marooned at the bottom of the Premier League? Was this likely to avoid big wages? Surely an experienced manager, one closely acquainted with the Portsmouth nightmare, could also have suggested cheaper alternatives? I donât want to spend the ownerâs money really Harry Redknapp There have been 27 signings by QPR in the 17 months since Fernandes arrived at Loftus Road, most of them prior to Redknappâs appointment, and too many appear a waste of money. There has been ÂŁ61.5m spent on transfer fees alone, never mind wages pitched at the level of a top-four team. QPR are a relatively small club. They are perennial underdogs with brief spells in their history of quirky brilliance. They thrive under confident, charismatic managers like Redknapp, but have never been big spenders. Who can blame their supporters for enjoying the Redknapp bounce? Yet, at the same time, who could blame them for trembling deep in their bones about the extent of the financial gamble? Hereâs the ÂŁ100m question: When the windows open again in summer will sunlight be shining on those loyal fans of Queens Park Rangers? www.express.co.uk/posts/view/375222/Fans-sweat-on-answer-to-Harry-Redknapps-100m-question/?
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Post by Macmoish on Feb 3, 2013 10:45:23 GMT
David McIntyre @davidmcintyre76
Fernandes in Sday Tel a quick PR win, possible partly because it's become trendy to suggest #QPR may 'do a Portsmouth' - which is unlikely.
#QPR project more comparable to MK Dons/Wimbledon than Pompey. Rebranding just as radical as Briatore's aim, just more slowly-catchy-monkey.
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Post by cpr on Feb 3, 2013 10:52:06 GMT
Who wrote that Express article? A masterpiece in fence sitting. The only salient point "and the truth is that nobody can know how this story will pan out", end of.
Is DaveMc also saying he doesn't want the club being projected for us?
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